Call of Duty: Black Ops II Xbox 360

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7.4

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Call of Duty Black Ops is a great game that can be considered the best in the series. You will enjoy a lot of different new features here, but the problem is, there are some vital elements of ga...

by Activision

Release Date: 11/09/2010

Description

Black Ops 2's multiplayer is largely the same as previous Call of Duty titles. It offers a smorgasbord of game types in which any player will surely find something to keep them entertained for hours on end.

6.5

Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the Xbox 360 is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision.

Well it's that time of year again. There's another Call of Duty out and of course it's immediately the best game in the series yet, the best selling in the series, the list goes on. So here's what I think of it. Whether you agree or not well that's up to you. So, here, we...go.

Black Ops 2 probably has one of the most interesting stories in the Call of Duty series to date. Using a similar system as the original Black Ops where the story alternates between flashback sequences, set in the 1980's towards the end of the Cold War where the player controls Alex Mason, and present day sequences set in the year 2025 where the player controls Mason's son David. The story is centered around the game's antagonist Raul Menendez with the flashback missions telling the story of what caused Menendez hates America and his decision to take revenge of both the USA and the Western world. The present day sequences then go on to detail what Menendez's revenge involves and how it is carried out whilst David Masons struggles to prevent Menendez's devious plan from coming to fruition.

What is, perhaps, the most interesting feature of the game's story is the use of an RPG-esque mechanic where the player's actions throughout the game effect the outcome of the story. This is effected by factors such as the choices the player makes at certain points, whether the player finds hidden information in certain missions and whether or not the player successfully completes RTS style strike force missions.

Personally I would have liked them to keep the game's setting entirely in the future which is far more entertaining and interesting than the 1980's sequences. On another personal note it felt like the characters were for some reason unknown to all but the writers are all overly gruff about everything for no reason at all. In fact it got to the point that I found myself quoting lines from Batman at points which was entertaining up to the point where I lost my voice.

Overall the angle the story is approached from makes up for the fact that in terms of writing it is merely average at best.

Black Ops 2's multiplayer is largely the same as previous Call of Duty titles. It offers a smorgasbord of game types in which any player will surely find something to keep them entertained for hours on end. What is perhaps the most interesting feature of the multiplayer is the class customization.

Firstly Black Ops 2, unlike its predecessor has returned to the treadmill style unlock system of leveling up to unlock new weapons and then using these weapons to unlock attachments for them which is frankly a terrible system, however the unlock points system has been kept for score streaks, both types of grenades, perks and wildcards. But that's not the point.

The main point of interest is the 10 slot system that is used. Put simply the player is given 10 slots which the player can use for weapon's attachments, perks, grenades and wild cards. This gives the player a certain level of freedom as they can choose any combination of weapons, attachments, perks, grenades and wildcards. This means that the player can go with the standard loadout of primary weapon, secondary weapon, 3 perks and both lethal and non-lethal grenades. It is the addition of wildcards is what gives players the increased freedom. Wildcards give players bonuses ranging from carrying multiple primary weapons to extra perks meaning that a player could choose to go weapons heavy with 2 assault rifles with lots of extras but no perks or they could choose to take just a pistol but have lots of perks that give them little advantages over other players.

The kill streak system has also received a makeover. Although the rewards are the same as the previous titles but with a futuristic twist such as the K-9 robot dogs. However, this time around instead of getting a certain number of kills to get a reward. Players must now earn a certain score instead of kills. This feels like an attempt at encouraging teamwork as the required scores are often awkward numbers such as 450 points which is the equivalent of four kills and an assist, however this doesn't really do much in the end as it can easily be over come by just getting an extra kill and going over the required score.

To be perfectly honest with you the multiplayer is just the same as the previous games in the series and anyone reading this will probably know whether they like it or not already.

So, here we are at the final verdict. Now I could give this a score out of 10 but frankly that's pointless because my definition of let's say 8 out of ten will be different to everyone else's so I'll just summarize the game and let you make the decision for yourselves. Black Ops 2 is, for all intents and purposes, a Call of Duty game. If you don't like Call of Duty already then you won't like this one. If you're new to the series it's a decent entry point for learning how the game works and getting used to the game but don't expect most of the new features such as score streaks to be in the next edition as it will most likely revert to the Modern Warfare set up.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the Xbox 360 is really aimed at players who are already invested in the series but want to see a bit of an innovation to the game but not so much that it's an entire overhaul.

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